On June 19th, 2023, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded his two day meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Blinken’s visit to China took place four months after his initial plans to travel were postponed due to the shooting down of a Chinese surveillance balloon over the U.S. in February. Blinken and Xi both expressed satisfaction with the progress and outcomes of the discussions.

In the meeting transcript, Xi stated that he was pleased with the results of Blinken’s dialogues with top Chinese diplomats, which had occurred in the days leading up to Xi and Blinken’s meeting. Xi stated, “The Chinese side has made our position clear, and the two sides have agreed to follow through the common understandings President Biden and I had reached in Bali.” Though lacking specific details of an agreement, Xi and Blinken have retained the preexisting decision to return to a broad agenda for cooperation and competition endorsed last year by Xi and U.S. President Joe Biden at a summit in Bali. “Progress is hard,” Blinken declared, “It takes time, it takes more than one visit.” Both China and the U.S. expressed desire to hold more meetings and dialogues, but there have been few indications that either was willing to be flexible on major issues. Blinken, after telling reporters that he had repeatedly raised the issue of military to military communications, said that the issue is “something we’re going to keep working on.” Nevertheless, Biden claimed that progress has already been made with relations between the U.S. and China because of this meeting. 

The fostering of communication is certainly an indicator of progress in relations between China and the U.S. Though tensions continue to increase on a multitude of high stakes issues, having stronger and more reliable lines of communication between countries marks a new round of dependable progress. Active attempts to expand diplomatic communication between the two countries is the first step in the creation of a more diplomatic relationship as a whole. Though disagreements are natural in communication, especially in regards to two global powers at opposing ends of a single spectrum, disputes can be much more properly managed when methods of communication are established. Combative strategies to ease conflict can be avoided and comprehensive solutions can be sought when these communication systems are developed.

Shao Yuqun, a senior fellow with the Center for American Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies claimed, “Under ordinary circumstances a visit to China by the [U.S.] Secretary of State would be an important visit and should have the effect of advancing bilateral relations, but this visit, while still important, is hard to gauge in terms of how much it can advance relations. . . It may keep things from getting worse . . .but I don’t know if it can make things better in bilateral ties.” Blinken’s dialogue with Xi has been the highest-level U.S. visit to China in five years. The U.S. has said that, since 2021, China has declined or failed to respond to over a dozen requests for top-level dialogues. Amid escalated military activity in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, Blinken’s trip is still expected to usher in a new wave of visits by senior U.S. and Chinese officials.

The diplomatic progress made between China and the U.S. from this meeting is groundbreaking, especially in regards to the current atmosphere of the international stage. The most pressing issues between the two countries, including those revolving around trade, Taiwan, human rights conditions in China and Hong Kong, Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea, and Russia’s war in Ukraine, however, went virtually undiscussed. Nevertheless, the U.S. and China should attempt to maintain this momentum of affirmative progress.